For Pride 2022, Selendy Gay Elsberg celebrated the diversity of our firm and community by hosting a party featuring Alex Newell.
The world didn’t need another law firm when we started ours in 2018; it needed a better one. Part of that was easy. We knew it was essential to balance plaintiff- and defense-side work, to represent top companies as well as the public interest, and to develop an unbiased approach to hiring, training, and promoting our exceptional attorneys.
The hard part was getting here.
For years, we’ve heard the same statistics that you probably have – about how less than a fifth of law firm partners are women; about women and men that enter law firms at the same rates, but are disproportionately male by the time partnership decisions are made; about the classic “bait-and-switch” of pitching a diverse team, but delivering a homogenous one. Nevertheless, we persisted.
We fully believe that clients want to hire diverse teams, but don’t want their choice to be perceived as a risk by a board or its shareholders.
Because it shouldn’t be a risk to do better.
Many law firms are dedicated to diversity and inclusion. Selendy Gay Elsberg goes beyond simply dedication; we constantly strive to ensure that people of all backgrounds feel a sense of belonging to the community we’re creating together.
In the last major study of law firm partnerships, women comprised only 19% of BigLaw equity partners, as compared to nearly 50% at Selendy Gay Elsberg. We’ve been recognized by Bloomberg Law, the Financial Times, Chambers and Partners, and Law360’s Glass Ceiling Report for our gender-balanced firm.
Only 24.2% of associates in BigLaw identify as people of color, coupled with even bleaker partnership statistics. As partners to the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, outspoken advocates of social justice, and frequent panelists on law firm diversity, we know that developing a pipeline of racially diverse partners begins with establishing a pipeline of well-trained and well-supported associates of all backgrounds.
For our part, we took a comprehensive look at diversity efforts across the legal industry, as well as our own infrastructure, recruiting and training efforts. We considered the host of challenges faced by groups who have historically been underrepresented in the legal profession and examined our own implicit biases, thinking critically about how Selendy Gay Elsberg can be an anti-racist institution.
Learn more about the Selendy Gay Elsberg Fellowship here.
Only 2.9% of attorneys identify as LGBTQ in BigLaw firms, as compared to over 21% at Selendy Gay Elsberg. At the heart of our egalitarian community is our shared commitment – across all identities – to represent diversity at every level of our firm.
In honor of Pride Month, Selendy Gay Elsberg hosted clients, friends and allies in celebration of the LGBTQ+ community for our third annual Pride event. This year featured a performance from Teal Wicks, who is known for her originating role of Lady in The Cher Show, and her Broadway debut as Elphaba in Wicked. Past years have included special guests such as Tony Award winner Alex Newell, whose career spans the hit show Glee, the Tony Award winning Once On This Island revival, and most recently, Shucked, a new musical comedy.
While we work to build an inclusive environment in our office, we know that the world is bigger than our firm. It’s why our partners and associates are committed to causes that build a more open, diverse society. Some of the organizations with which our attorneys partner include: